Yesterday we had a glimpse of the Attorney General reading out a script prepared for his press conference. This was his first time facing the media after his sudden appointment replacing the previous AG at the end of last July. It is unfortunate that he declined to have a question and answer session for the media. Perhaps, the questions asked might be too difficult to answer.
Regardless, the AG Chamber had used the press conference to defend 1MDB against the charges made by Bank Negara Malaysia.
Using form over substance, instead of substance over form, the AG cited technicality rather than the spirit of the law in order to justify why he is not prosecuting 1MDB.
Below are some of the reaction by commentators regarding the statement from the AG in The Malaysian Insider today:
The reaction by the public reflects their ability to see through the smokescreen and the facade on what is more important. The issue at hand here is certainly not why BNM did not ask further clarification.
The issue is actually how 1MDB had subsequently renege on the motive in remitting the billions of money overseas. Substance over form. Instead of doing exactly what they had originally disclosed to BNM, the monies ended up in places not revealed to BNM until at a much later stage.
Note that this is the same AG which back in August had claimed that the task force investigating 1MDB has been disbanded and in its place, has renamed a previous task force which had investigated money related crimes, and this task force will not investigate 1MDB.
But after he was chided by the Royal Council last week, the AG backtracked to say that the task force was never disbanded and he had never made such statement to that effect!
Oh dear, the cock and bull epidemic that has plagued 1MDB and Prime Minister’s office has now infected the AG chambers!
Even the MACC confirmed in their August 5th press statement that the task force was disbanded.
If the task force was indeed never been dissolved, then why did one of the MACC bosses urged AG to reactivate the task force? More than that, he made a disclosure that the task force has not met since July!
The flip flop statements made by this government is embarrassing. We are already an embarrassment during the International Anti-Corruption Conference last month.
One young Malaysian even called our Prime Minister a national disgrace. And the fact that the giants in Malaysian politics are accusing the government for abuse of power is very telling.
The arrests of Malaysian citizens for making reports on wrongdoings of a government and charging them for sabotaging the economy is mind-boggling and cruel. Even the draconian ISA had never been used on people who made reports.
Perhaps the government is confident and believe that they have strong support from the people in the next general election. Nevermind the fact that the wife of the persecuted has about 600,000 followers on her social media account.
If only 10% of her followers decided not to vote for Barisan Nasional, the government will lose about 25 parliamentary seats it had won by under 2,000-vote majority.
Just like one veteran politician had said, “why do things that will only upset more people towards the government?”
Hopefully the AG will find it in his heart to do the right thing.
You might also want to read:
1) Auditor General to furnish report on 1MDB probe in 3-4 months
2) Police need 1MDB audit report to complete probe, IGP says
3) Two months left for Najib to settle 1MDB controversy, says Tuan Ibrahim
4) Najib’s Transformation Of Malaysia Into An American Satellite
6) 1MDB lied when countering Mahathir’s Cayman fund claims (UPDATE)
jebatmustdie 
It looks like “Cash is really King” in Najib’s administration.
Surely there are enough honest and right-minded UMNO members with principles, to “sack” the president, in order to save UMNO.
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“Hopefully the AG will find it in his heart to do the right thing.”
Judging from his defence of the way Khairuddin and Chang were charged, I doubt it.
“In this regard, Section 130a of the Penal Code defines the term ‘sabotage’ to mean an act or omission intending to cause harm, among others, to the maintenance of ‘essential services’ while the term ‘essential services’ is defined to include banking and financial services,” he said during a rare press conference at the Attorney-General’s Chambers today.
This is 100% wrong legally.
Let’s see the actual definition in the Penal Code (s.124L as read with s.130):
“….”sabotage” means
(a) an act or omission intending to cause harm:
(i) for the interests of foreign powers or foreign organizations;
(ii) to premises or utilities used for national defence or for war; or
(iii) to the maintenance of essential services; or
(b) knowingly producing defective materials, premises or utilities used for national defence or for war.”
OK?
And essential services are defined as:
(a)water services;
(b)electricity services;
(c)public health services;
(d)banking and financial services;
(e)fire services;
(f)prison services;
(g)postal services;
(h)telecommunication services including the communication infrastructure;
(i)telegraph services;
(j)radio communication services including broadcasting and television services;
(k) port, dock and harbour services and undertakings;
(l)public transport services by land, sea or air; or
(m) bulk distribution of fuel and lubricants;
By rules of statutory construction that even a 1st year law student would know, (in Latin, “Noscitur a Sociis” or “Ejusdem Generis”), you do not suddenly give one part of a written law a radically different meaning from the words which surround it. They need to be read together, and in context. The words “essential services” that a pandi is relying on are sandwiched between two clauses dealing with “national defence or for war”, and “materials, premises or utilities used for national defence or for war.”
Judges in all common law countries (and see Hong Leong Equipment v Liew Fook Chuan [1996] 1 MLJ 416 and many others locally) ask themselves the law’s purpose:
“What was this law’s intention”?
Well, the answer is clear here. This law is to dissuade and deter violent lunatics who are thinking of waging war against the state from “sabotage”, that is defined as e.g. blowing up telco towers, destroying ports, banks, hospitals, and petrol depots, breaking into jails to release prisoners, taking over TV stations, and cutting phone lines and water pipes. Disruption of essential services that the govt may need to carry on in war conditions, in short.
It has nothing to do with making legal police reports against an entity. That is a travesty of legal reasoning, and unsupportable.
Let’s apply his “legal reasoning” to other “essential services” as defined above, shall we? Let’s go through the list above…and pick some random examples.
(h) if I make a police report on corruption in Maxis or Digi, I am liable to be charged under s124L and jailed 15 years.
(m) if I make a police report on corruption in Petronas, I am liable to be charged under s124L and jailed 15 years.
(b) if I make a police report on insider trading in TNB, I am liable to be charged under s124L and jailed 15 years.
(j) If I report Astro for wrongdoing, I am liable to be charged under s124L and jailed 15 years.
You see how absurd it is? There is nothing sacred about 1MDB. It’s just a company.
Oh, and the other question:
What is the causal link between making a report on 1MDB and any effect on “BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES?”
I would have thought that ignoring BNM’s reports twice might be far more damaging to that sector?
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The really much bigger question is why 1MDB is so special, that it can ignore orders from the country’s central bank, when the bank has made it clear that rules were broken?
Why is 1MDB above the law?
Their excuse is:
“Oh sorry, I’ve already spent it. Too bad.”
If someone tells me, “my mother is dying, I need RM2,000 for her operation”, and I lend it to him, then the next day I find out it’s a lie, can the guy say: “Oh sorry, I’ve already spent it. Too bad”?
The world doesn’t work that way, nor does the law.
Why is 1MDB above the law?
Zeti should go public with everything she knows – including what she passed to MACC & PRDM.
The MACC should now know, from Zeti’s experience, of exactly how they should proceed.
There are smart ways to get around around Darth Vader that will finish off Emperor Palpatine. (Empress, actually.)
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If I give false info on a bank application form – you think I am immune from prosecution if I say “bank officer tu tak mintak bukti pun?”
BNM has had the full facts only since July 2015.
I think that the current desperate protectors of Kepuanan Minangkabau (that replaced Ketuanan Melayu a long time back) will not go down well in Malaysian history.
You can be sure that the 6th PM and his de facto boss will certainly not be well regarded by our future generations.
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To those involved, ingat Allah, ingat hari pembalasan atas perbuatan khianat, munafik Dan tidak amanah. Sudah berapa ramai orang serta rakyat yang teraniaya. Sekali lagi, ingat Allah Dan ingat doa-doa orang yang teraniaya.
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The FBI and DOJ are now looking at Goldman Sachs.
So much for Zahid’s theory:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/1mdb-adviser-goldman-sachs-facing-fbi-doj-probe-says-wsj
You see, just because John Kerry and the FBI do not talk about 1MDB in a formal bilateral meeting that has nothing to do with 1MDB, does NOT mean that the US is not investigating 1MDB.
They clearly are.
“Goldman Sachs must be foremost among foreigners praying that the 1MDB scandal doesn’t topple the Najib government.
The full scale inquiry by agencies ranging from Bank Negara to the Anti-Corruption Commission would surely unearth so much that was rotten in the state of Malaysia and might well give the guarantor of its huge debts (the people of Malaysia) the opportunity to renege on the grounds of claims made at the time of the debt issuance.
Even if this were not to be the case, there is every reason why Goldman should be made to throw up the huge profit it made on raising money for what it must have been able to smell was a dubious deal. But Goldman avarice ensures that any sense of smell is extinguished as soon as its eyes see the potential for huge rewards by being party to a deal which yields the sort of commission only available on dodgy transactions.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, Goldman collected a commission of 7.69% in raising US$6.5 billion for 1MDB, a supposedly quasi- sovereign borrower. Why would such a company be willing to pay so much over the odds, in the process netting Goldman fees which are believed to have totalled US$500 million?”
See:
http://www.asiasentinel.com/econ-business/goldman-role-1mdb-controversy/
Also:
http://www.breakingviews.com/malaysia-mess-puts-goldman-sachs-in-the-hot-seat/21210973.article
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/07/02/1mdb-of-malaysias-1-75bn-bond-one-puzzle-wrapped-up-in-another/
The question that the FBI really should look into is that bond issue of March 2013.
I have a feeling that the key to quite a few mysteries.
And if the FBI, Swiss and UK finally conclude that there was wrongdoing, well, our two SOSMA-detained friends should sue the pants off the govt.
I think a LOT of wrongdoing is going to be revealed.
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I don’t think 1MDB is the only reason why many people dislike Najib.
Of-course, DAP and its supporters hates UMNO, hence Najib. I also don’t think DAP like PAS very much when they formed Pakatan then. Maybe, Anwar had manage to dupe both DAP and PAS into conspiring (Pakatan) to topple UMNO. Who knows, Anwar might promised completely different things in the absence of either one of them.
The Malays hates Najib because of his policies (foreign & domestic), his extravagance lifestyle (especially the wife) and his spendthrift attitude with Rakyats’ money. He is somewhat anglophile, a fan-club of MU. His decision, not to revived the crooked-bridge was at Malaysian economic loss and Singapore’s advantage. Dismantling part of the courseway would create strong current that would impede Singapore’s land reclaiming activities along Johor Straits. When Dr.M left, construction had already began and there was no talk of arbitration. Whether or not Malaysia could unilaterally dismantle it’s half of the courseway then.
The swap of KTM land too, seems to benefit Singapore more than us.
And now, each passing day, it seem more obvious that Malaysia will be signing the TPPA. And that maybe the reason why Najib was not questioned by the FBI during UNGA. Even Rafidah Aziz had come on TV3 to say that TPPA is good for a tiny country like us. Zahid too, seems proud that he had successfully secured Malaysians, a visa-free entry into the US. He might have forgot that those who voted for BN, do not shop in the US every moons.
As a member of TPPA, China might not consider Malaysia a member of NAM (Non-Align Movement) anymore. Russia might think so, too. China would then start to harass our boys, stationed in Pulau Layang-Layang. Same like what the PLA (People Liberation Army) is doing to Vietnam and Philippines over the Spratly Islands. Korea and Japan too, are staunch allies of the US. So you see, anywhere that China had ‘dispute’, it was with US staunch allies. Most of them with Military/Naval/Air-force base on their land.
Therefore, if 1MDB, the coming UMNO Election or GE14, could not bring down Najib, TPPA would, with or without racial strife.
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The Chinese in Singapore hold Najib periuk nasi. 2.6 Billion is in singapore bank. That is why Najib is very nice to the Singaporean Chinese. Giving them railways, land.
Is Najib being blackmail by the Singaporean government?
ITs not far fetched.
Thats why you should not appoint corrupt people as Prime Minister because they can get blackmail.
Time for Malays to change their President.
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Maybe Najib’s true mandate is to kill UMNO. Have you considered that?
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Hello apandi be a man. Just say I am not charging 1mdb now or ever and khalid, just say since AG is not charging I can never open file even if I wanted too but I never want to anyway.
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